Ep4 Dr. Larry Cohen - This "Gym for Your Skin" Could Make You Look 10 Years Younger

Dr. Larry Cohen  0:00  
They don't know if they want to get started. How soon do you want to get started preventing arterial disease in your heart? How soon do you want to get started controlling your blood pressure so you don't end up on dialysis? How early do you want to start controlling your blood pressure so you don't get a stroke or a heart attack? It's the same thing with your skin. We just haven't really thought about skin care as a health concern.

Scott Groves  0:26  
Welcome to Henderson HQ. This is the podcast where you get all the stories behind the businesses that make our community tick. Don't forget to subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Scott groves with the Henderson HQ podcast, and today we talked to Dr Larry Cohen and his manager of ethereal medical spa and Wellness Center, just a really fun interview. Talking to a local business owner here in Henderson, learned more about the skin than I ever thought I would know. And the reality is, you know, we've all probably done something with our skin, and what's cool that ethereal is doing is it's like a gym for your skin, where they're really looking at the metabolic health and the underlying age health of your skin. So check out the podcast support this local business and this local business owner, ethereal Med Spa, and if you get on their email list, you mentioned Henderson, HQ, they'll make sure to hook you up with a couple free products and maybe even a free scan on their skin IQ machine. Thanks so much. Enjoy the episode. Hey everybody. It's Scott groves with the Henderson HQ. I'm here with my new friend, Dr Larry Cohen, and his manager at ethereal spa, who is is very important to say that she's an advanced, licensed aesthetician. Because I think when I think of like spa, I think of like, kind of your nail salon where anybody can do anything, and maybe they'll give you a facial, and they'll rub down your legs and whatnot. But visiting your establishment, I gotta start with this funny story, like even the bathroom is high class. And I know that's a weird things to say, but like when you go into some of these small businesses, you can kind of tell, like the quality and the consistency and just the attention to deal detail that's going out, you know, throughout the entire business, which is kind of important, if somebody's putting lasers on my face, and when I walked in and I use the restroom, I'm like, Oh, this is a classy joint. And so tell us a little bit, uh, Dr Larry about uh, ethereal spa. And, like, why everybody in Henderson Green Valley, the greater Vegas area actually needs to be concerned about their skin.

Dr. Larry Cohen  2:22  
Well, as you know, it's like we're in the southwest, there's a lot of sun exposure, and that's the number one element in terms of aging your skin, you know. And you know, I grew up in a time where the moms used to say, Go on, play. Get the sun. It's really good for you. And that was growing up in the Midwest. On the other hand, you know, a lot of the people here grew up in Southern California. They maybe grew up here. They grew up, you know, in in areas where they had tremendous sun exposure, and as a result, a lot of their skin is actually really, uh, agent has a lot of damage. A lot of times, even if they can't really see the damage, there's damage underneath that will become apparent as time goes on. So it's really important that we try to correct the problems that you have in your skin, and then work on reversing the aging of your skin with our equipment and our and our products.

Scott Groves  3:14  
Yeah. Shannon, my wife, went in front of that little machine you have, which you told me how much that thing costs, and I was blown away. I think it was called Skin IQ. Is that correct?

Shannon  3:23  
Yes, it's an alma product. It's called the IQ skin analysis. We can do a comprehensive skin analysis with that show you all the layers of your skin, sun damage, the redness in your skin. We can show you whether or not your pores are clogged. It does a lot of great things, and people are shocked what they can see when they have an analysis from that machine.

Dr. Larry Cohen  3:43  
Yeah. Well, what's amazing about the machine is, is it uses different frequencies of light, so it's like, well, we look at each other's skin and we see what's on the surface that actually goes below the surface and finds the damage that hasn't become apparent yet. So we can actually get in there with our equipment and correct it.

Scott Groves  4:01  
So I'll see. I'm sure our editor can put up the results of my wife, which now she's gonna be mortified that, you know, 15,000 people are seeing the results of her skin, skin IQ test. But you know, when I look at my wife visually, there's no freckles. She's a young looking, 30 something year old, beautiful woman with wonderful skin. But when we saw the underneath of like, Oh, here's where the problem spots are gonna be in 510, 1520, 30 years here's maybe where you gotta be a little concerned about redness, which can lead to skin cancer. The one scan that make her look like she had 500 freckles, she was mortified. She's like, Oh, I gotta do something about this. This how I gonna look when I'm 6070, 80 years old. And so it was really eye opening with the technology that you have to get, like, under the surface level, because, you know, I could even put on makeup if I wanted to, but it's like, what's going on under the surface is pretty, pretty eye opening.

Dr. Larry Cohen  4:50  
Oh, absolutely. And what's really nice about it is, is our lasers have multiple different frequencies, and the IQ machine actually can analyze what the best compound. The nation of treatments are for you based on your actual skin, rather than just say, Oh, well, we're going to do this and

Shannon  5:06  
that that's right. So it targets exactly where we need to be, and we can tell the client exactly what they need, what lasers or chemical peels or treatments that will benefit their skin, for what their issues are, and if they have concerns, they can address them at that time after what they see is going on with the IQ. Yeah, I want

Scott Groves  5:26  
to get into the lasers in a little bit, because I saw some of that equipment, which is basically the equivalent of you having a couple Porsche 911 parked inside your office. So that's pretty interesting. We'll get to that. But I want to hear a little bit of background, because you're an ER doctor by trade, right? So how did you end up in the Henderson area? How did you decide to open this additional business in Henderson? Because I think that's an interesting story of journey from ER doctor to really caring about skincare.

Dr. Larry Cohen  5:52  
Well, we moved to the area my wife and I, because my parents lived here, and they're elderly, and they needed some help, and we were already VA employees. We had really good offers at the VA so we came here. So my wife, who's concerned, as most women are, about their skin, ended up going to the clinic that Shannon used to work for. She's managed a clinic like this for 10 years. And so one day, my wife comes home and says, You know what? Shannon's really not happy with how she's being treated. She's not treated with respect, you know? And so it's like, I'm already a medical director at, like, a knock health clinic. And I said, Well, I can fix that. I can be a medical director and open up my own clinic, and I'll just be happy to meet with Shannon and see what she thinks. And we already knew each other a little bit, because when I would bring my wife there, I'd say, hi, hi, Shannon. How are you? And I went there for a couple of treatments myself, so I'm familiar with something about it. And so Shannon and I met, and we hit it off, and we decided, well, let's talk to see. What can we do to really make the best esthetics clinic in town? So we ended up starting to say, Okay, what would we have? What can we do? And I'd like to back up a little bit. This is a medical clinic. This isn't just about looks. Yes, we can make your skin more beautiful, radiant, luxurious, glowing, smooth, and all the other things people want. But what people don't really understand is that what we really do is we really correct and rejuvenate your skin. And I really mean, you know, we were talking about the IQ and the things that are underneath that we can correct, but with the equipment that we have, we can actually bring your skin back to a medically younger age. And I don't just mean thicker by producing collagen, which is very important not to get the thin, friable skin as you get older. But what's really nice about it is, is that from a I'll get a little nerdy here, you know, from a medical perspective, if you take a biopsy of a skin and you look at it under a microscope, I can actually bring your skin back to a biologically younger age. Isn't that cool? So as if you

Scott Groves  8:10  
therefore, I knees,

Dr. Larry Cohen  8:11  
I wear, yes, I wear. What I would like to do, yeah, the skin on your knees, okay. But what I'd like, really like to mention is, is that, you know, it's like, I'm a doctor, and I feel good that, you know, people want to look good, and you know, every who doesn't want to look good, but as a doctor, I feel really good that what I can do is actually make somebody's skin healthier. Like, we went to a conference and I spoke to one of the dermatologists there, who's been doing this for a long time. And I said, you know, we know that we're making the skin actually medically younger. I said, What do you think about do we really reduce pre cancerous and cancerous lesions with the treatment we do? And she says, Well, I'm convinced we do. So that's another thing that makes me feel good. It's like, Who wants skin cancer? Who wants things cut out? So, you know, it's really nice to be able to do something where we can really know that we're doing something medical for people, not just something just esthetic.

Scott Groves  9:11  
Yeah, can you talk about that a little bit? Susan, because I think we live in a quick fix society, right? So it's like there's pretty much nothing, including this clock and some of the equipment in here that I ordered on Amazon yesterday, and it got here at 9am this morning before we got started, right? And it's like, the quick fix extends to everywhere. Oh, just put makeup on it. Just, you know, put a better dress on it. Just, you know, a lot of people don't worry about, like, their underlying metabolical health, or I'll just cover it up with makeup. I don't need to worry about what's going on underneath. So, how did you get on this journey of like, no, no, I want to actually help people cure what's underneath and rejuvenate the skin at a biological level, versus working at a place where it's a quick fix and you look great for 24 hours for the wedding, and that's fine. That's great. There's a place and a time, but like in talking to you, I know you really care about what's underneath.

Shannon  10:00  
Chief, yes, that's true. And first of all, I'd like to say I agree with Dr Larry, and it's been such a blessing getting to know him and his wife and working with them and his knowledge has actually brought me up several levels in understanding what that means, where we can do more for the skin than the quick fix. So I started in this industry, honestly, like, 30 years ago, and I've just kind of been building since then. We started with the small stuff, facials, you know, stay hydrated skin products and things like that. But now getting to know what true lasers can do, and the lasers that they have these days, and the technology, it's like, less pain, less downtime, more results. And with anything out there, you can't go to the gym once, you can't put gas in your car once, it's going to take time we can get you there, and then just maintain. And it's just the coming up these ages. Now, everybody wants to be looking younger, and we can do that.

Dr. Larry Cohen  11:06  
Yeah, and the nice thing is, is you're looking younger by actually having a really younger, healthier skin, right, right? That's the real key thing. Now, you said it, you know, quick fix. It's like, we can quick fix you by hydrating your skin. You know, we have a HydraFacial, we have a diamond glow. They're really good for your skin, but, okay, you'll look good for what, five days, seven days, and it's really a great and appropriate thing if you've got a special event, yeah, however, why don't you then have a laser that the laser activates the water molecule, so when you're there, looking good for your event. Why don't you have a laser treatment where we can actually start reversing some of the aging your skin, building the collagen of your skin, getting rid of some of the fine lines,

Scott Groves  11:48  
you know you were talking about, that which this is all new to me, because I'm just getting to the age where the crows feet and the bags under my eyes and whatnot. Luckily, I'm getting some more sleep now that the kids are older. But you mentioned that the cool thing is, with the lasers, the equipment you have, kind of the advances in technology, which I don't think about skincare. I know there's massive advances in technology everywhere, across the medical world, so it would make sense that it's happening in skincare. You were talking about some of the stuff that you know 1020, years ago would have been a surgical intervention, and now you guys can do it kind of outpatient quickly, with some lasers and some hydro stuff that I don't understand. So can you guys talk a little bit about that? Well, let

Dr. Larry Cohen  12:25  
me, let me just talk about, like, the stuff we can do about the eye stuff. You know, blepharoplasty. Eyelid lifts are very popular right now. You know, as you get older, called blepharoplasty, okay, that's where people get their eyes lit the eyelid lift, yeah. And you know what, as you get older, I mean, even some people get so much laxity and loose skin there that it may actually interfere with their ability to open their eyes. Well, you know, it's like, okay, great, you can have plastic surgery, which basically what they do is they remove skin and you get a really nice result. And this is not in any cut against plastic surgeons at all. At one time, I was considering becoming a plastic surgeon, except it took too many years of postgraduate training, but, but what's nice about what we do is is that we can give you a lift of your eyelids by actually improving the health and reducing the age of your skin. So you'll get a lift, and yet you get a lift with better skin. And we can also take care of the crows feet. We can take care of the bags under your eyes, and that's all really nice stuff. So let's pretend you really want to get an eyelid lift, which I certainly understand. Well, we can do some things to give you an eyelid lift and give you healthier skin. Now let's say, for example, we don't get quite as far as you want, and you say, hey, you know what? You still have too much skin there. You're going to need a plastic surgeon. Wouldn't you want to have the plastic surgeon with thicker, more healthy, younger skin so you heal up better and get a better result? So it's really a good idea to start off with us, see if you get the result that you want, and then if you need a plastic surgeon, then you can go get a plastic surgeon, but you're going to get a better result with with actually, less surgery, and, you know, quicker recovery time.

Scott Groves  14:07  
Yeah, I'm, I'm thinking of this Shannon, when I think of, like, anything dealing with the face, I think of these things you see in the movie where it's like this massive peel, and the lady's face is red for two weeks, and she has to hide out at a med spa in Africa or something. So for your average, for your average client that comes in, how long are they, you know, a little sensitive, or how long is the like downtime, I guess I would say, I would

Shannon  14:31  
say, out of any of the treatments that we do, the most downtime any one would have would be seven to 10 days, okay, and that would be our most aggressive treatment, skin resurfacing,

Scott Groves  14:44  
skin resurfacing. That sounds aggressive, yes,

Dr. Larry Cohen  14:47  
yeah, and that doesn't. And a lot of the stuff around the eyes, my wife recently had something done around her eyes, and it was a little run, a little sore for one day, and then it went away. So a day

Shannon  14:57  
when I say downtime. I mean, you might be red and you might have a little bit of splotchy looking skin for two to three days, and then you're you're going to be a little bit flaky and dry feeling. We send you home with an aftercare kit, skin care regime for home. And then you're going to notice that everything is gone. All of the effects of the treatment is gone, except for the healing, and it's going to continue to tighten and resurface and address those issues that people are having and wanting to get rid of for an additional three to four weeks, even though they can't see.

Dr. Larry Cohen  15:36  
So the one thing back you said, with getting to the like, like, you know, one and done, most of these treatments really require a few to several, yeah, you know, because if you really want to get a good result, yeah, you might see a little bit of response in one, a little more. With two, three or more, you can actually, like, say, hey, you know what your friends are starting to notice, right? Great. You'll notice for one to two, but after three or more, then it's like, Oh, wow. You know you're looking so good. What did you

Scott Groves  16:06  
do? Right? That's gotta be a good feeling, especially for women. I'm sure men too. Where it's like, when your friend says, Oh, you're you're looking better, you're looking thinner, you're looking where, hey, that always feels good. And it probably feels especially good when you didn't have to go under general anesthesia. And, you know, every surgery comes with some type of complication, or whatnot, or risk of complication. So we talked about some of the the deeper stuff to laser. And I want to, I want to circle back to that, but Shannon tell us about the quick fix, right? So the gal that's coming into town for a wedding, or, you know, we have a lot of people that are in entertainment in the city of Las Vegas. So you're going for an interview as a bartender at a pool for the summer, and you're gonna have to look your best. What's like the quick fix solutions?

Shannon  16:48  
So there are several things that we can do. We have a device called the diamond glow, and we have a device called the Hydra facial. And we also have manual facials with excellent skincare product, medical grade skincare products that we can do on them, we can do light peels, where you don't actually visually peel, but it's working underneath of the skin, and it gives you that nice glow and tight look. We call it like the red carpet treatment, or even a lunchtime facial, or peel somebody that wants to come in and look just glowing the next day and for the next few days. Yes, nice. And you can do that over lunch. Yeah, yeah. They could come in on their lunch break and have it done absolutely. Yeah.

Scott Groves  17:26  
Let's come over for lunch next time I have a podcast, get my get my face looking good. Dr Cohen, I'm, I'm wondering, you know, this is like a big, a big risk that you've taken in building out this location and obviously hiring Shannon away and kind of changing the course of her life. What's been most eye opening for you in opening a business that's all yours and it's your name on the checkbook and the door, you know? I mean, there's got to be a difference from going from like, Oh, I'm employed by the VA to like, opening my own business. What's been kind of eye opening for you on the business

Dr. Larry Cohen  17:57  
front? Well, I'd like to start this off by saying, Thank you to my wife for allowing me to risk our retirement savings, because it's, you know, remarkably expensive to do it, right? Yeah, you know, we could, like, have picked up some simple equipment, but we didn't. Shannon, I decided we're going to really go for the best equipment. And we really looked for the best equipment, the most advanced equipment, the things that we'd be able to do the most things to actually help the health of people's skin, not just make them look better, which, of course, everybody wants to look better. But how about looking better? Because you've actually improved the health of your skin and reduced the age of it. That's what's really cool. So yes, so the other thing is, and actually, interestingly, I've really enjoyed it, because I've never been a businessman before. I've always been in the Air doc, and part of the appeal was that I go, I do my job, I take care of the patients. I mean, I got a lot of satisfaction because, you know, I've saved, you know, 1000s of people's lives. I mean, it's a really great feeling, but it's a very tough career. I mean, you've seen the TV show, we are, right. And the only thing that surprised me about that show is, is how much help they have, you know, but for us, I mean, it's very stressful. My schedule is changing all the time, and so, you know, as I'm getting a little bit gray here, I'm thinking like, Well, I'm really too interested and energetic and want to do stuff to like, Oh, I'm going to retire and, you know, you know, watch ball games. I mean, I didn't really want to do that. I said, Well, what can I do that gets me back to a regular schedule. I actually had the privilege of working as an internist either full or part time for five years. So I really, you know, got to do a job where I went to work at the same time I got home at the same time. I had normal hours. And after having done er, for well over 20 years, I was tired all the time because my shift might be from 5pm to 3pm or overnight, or I have to go in at six and work till four or 6pm whatever I'm in the schedule. Always changing. And so as a result, I thought, Oh, I'm just getting old. I'm getting tired. Well, then after working like, four months on a regular schedule, I woke up once and said, I've gone I'm not tired anymore. I feel really good. And so, you know, I happen to really like working at the VA it's been a really nice job for me. It's not nearly as stressful as the trauma centers I used to work at. But on the other hand, I'm also, you know, getting to where I'm thinking about retiring, but I don't want to, I want to do something, and I really love being a doctor, so this gave me an opportunity to do something where I could work regular hours, I could be my own boss, which is something new, and that's I'm really enjoying, that. I'm enjoying working with Shannon. And then, you know, the other part of it is, is, like, how much detail there is. Thank God I got Shannon, because she handles the detail. I think of them, and she handles them. Yes, that is a good manager. Yes, yes, it is. And I think she's been kind of surprised at how much incredible detail I said, like you've mentioned the bathroom, or we were looking around at different places, and there's a lot of things that as we were doing it, we learned, what do we have to consider? And we were really fortunate finding this place in Henderson, because it's a professional Plaza, and it's like, right off the 215 so like, I live in Summerlin, but very realistically, if there's no traffic, it takes me between 25 and 30 minutes to get there. So I was kind of surprised that I think of Henderson being a long way away, but, you know, but it's really been really convenient. I get on the 215 get off at Pecos, and like, a quarter of a mile later, I'm there at the office. So it's really an easy trip, you know. And I am somewhat familiar with Henderson because my parents lived in anthem for nearly 20 years. Yeah. So it's not like, I'm unfamiliar with Henderson, but I thought, well, we'll just get something in summer. And then we started looking, and it's like, Wait, this place in Henderson is terrific because it's a professional Plaza, you know? It's like, you had mentioned something about, like a salon or a nail place. We're really a medical office, yeah, you know, as we've been talking about it, we do things that are medical I mean, people can come in with skin problems. We can prescribe medications for them, you know, it's, you know, and our products that are all medical grade. So we want it to be in a professional Plaza, so and not in just like a regular mall kind of situation. So we're really fortunate. This is really attractive place. It's right off of bagels. You can see it from Pecos. We've got the signs that you can see from two different directions. It's got plenty of parking, and it was just like the perfect size, with nice, generous size rooms, and it just ended up being like, Oh, wow. What an ideal spot. So that's how we ended up there.

Shannon  22:48  
That's good. I haven't had anybody complaining, and I have a lot of clients coming from all over older city, all the way over to Summerlin, and they get in there and they're like, Wow, this is great. Yeah, I have a beautiful facility, and we offer a lot of services, not just the facials and lasers we I definitely want to give credit to our wonderful injectors that we have on board, and the other services that we will be bringing on very shortly, like our IV therapy.

Dr. Larry Cohen  23:17  
And that's a very good point. I'm glad you mentioned the injectors. Because, you know, people like will come in and they'll want, like, Botox or Dysport or one of the other Wrinkle Relaxers, we should call them. And so, you know, people get that they look better. The wrinkles are gone. Boy, you really look terrific. And they do. But the problem is they haven't done anything for the health of their skin. Why don't they build the collagen underneath it? Why don't they get back, you know, a younger skin, you know, on the histological level. So take advantage of getting the injection done, and then let's make your skin healthier, so that the wrinkles don't come back as quickly and your thin. Your skin is still aging. Even if you've had the Botox treatment. Your skin's still aging. Why don't you have that build some collagen underneath where the wrinkles were, so they don't come back, and then you'll have healthier, you know, smoother, more glowing skin, if you like, do it. One of the things we really talked about is, is a lot of people think of onesies. Oh, I'm gonna get a HydraFacial, I'm gonna get a diamond glow. I'm gonna get, you know, this Botox or whatever, yeah, exactly. And they're all really good products and services. But what we decided is, is that we know what we're doing, so why don't we put together a plan for somebody so that they can say, okay, fine, you want to have, you know, your winkles gone. We can definitely do that. Why don't you come back in a couple of weeks, get a hydro facial, get a laser, start building the quality and the health of your skin, yeah, so that you really are in good shape, and you don't even really necessarily need the, you know, the Botox as soon and much more importantly to me as a doctor, is I've made people's skin healthier. I've made it. Last longer, you know, we've possibly even taken care of some pre cancerous lesions underneath that you can't even see, or the things that your skin's going to look like, you know, in a matter of several years if we don't correct those problems and don't rejuvenate your skin.

Scott Groves  25:15  
Yeah, Shannon, when I came over and met your team, I was reminded of this story from a gentleman named Darren Hardy, who's a business book writer, and he tells this funny story about going to some hotel, I don't know, Ritz Carlton or whatever, and everybody was so nice and helpful and bubbly that, as a entrepreneur, he tracked down the general manager of the hotel. And he's like, all right, man, I need to know your secret. Like, how are you training these people? What are you doing? And the manager is like, what are you talking about? He's like, Well, everybody was so friendly. Everybody was so friendly and helpful and just like, smiling all the time. And I need to know, like, what? What's your secret sauce for training? And like, there was a disconnect between what he was asking and what the manager was understanding. And the manager finally goes, Oh, it's really easy. You just hire nice people. And so when I met your staff, I was like, oh, there's a certain feeling here of like warmness and professionalism. And like everybody there, from your marketing gal, Vivian, all the way to the people that are doing the injections, they're just I can just feel like they're good people. So can you talk a little bit about that? Because I think hiring good people is probably one of the biggest challengers for managers in business. And in Henderson, we have a pretty transient community of people that come and go from Vegas. So I know businesses are constantly hiring and replacing staff and whatnot. So can you talk about your journey of like, how you found your team and built this awesome group of people you have there

Dr. Larry Cohen  26:35  
well before Shannon answers, I'd like to compliment her. You know, I have my team because of of Shannon. Oh, I know this and that. Well, we talked about it. So the nice thing is, is that Shannon has been in the business 10 years, so I was very concerned at first about like, well, how are we going to get a good staff? And Shannon says we will. We're going to get a good staff. And then we would start getting referrals, or people she would know, or people heard she had left, and so they would come and they make appointments with us. And one of the things I really got to appreciate was that all of these people who've known Shannon for years really trust her and respect her. So it's like, great, we're getting the pick of everybody. She said, Well, I know them, they're really good, or I know them, they're really nice, and, you know, they're everybody we talk to say, Oh yeah, I've seen their work. I've worked with them. I know people who work with them. So we've really been able to get our pick. And the other part of it is that Shannon and I work together to come up with what we consider a really nice package for our employees. We really have a very generous commission structure that's quite a bit higher than everybody else's because, you know, it's like, I think everybody works better with an incentive. And what can be a better incentive? Then it's like, you see your patient, you know, that day, what you're walking home with based on what service you performed. And so that's what a lot of it is, yeah,

Scott Groves  28:03  
and how did you find these people inside on them?

Shannon  28:06  
You know, I've been doing this quite a while, and I've developed relationships with the reps, the representatives of either the product companies, the injectable companies, the laser companies, and we've created what I would be safe to say, a friendship, and they know who I am and how I am and how I would run a business if I had a business. And I got lucky enough meeting Dr Larry that I get to manage his spa. And it's so as talking to these reps, and they're like, Oh, I know this person that is going to fit in so good, can I send them your way? I said, Absolutely. And it just kind of started rolling like that. You know, you the reps are only just trying to do their job. But I'll tell you what, there are some really good reps out there. When you get hooked up with a good rep that knows what they're doing, and they care about their customers, and even start to develop relationship with the employees of the the owners of the other businesses, and they see what's going on, and they want a better place, a place where there's no drama, there's there's no worry about what's going wrong, whether things are going to be available or stocked and or if they have questions or concerns, I'm there and I'm I'm ready for it. So I think that a big part is thanks to the relationship that I had developed with the representatives of the products that we use. And it's

Scott Groves  29:41  
funny, you mentioned the word relationship in there three or four times, because it feels like a through line, right? Like, as soon as I met you guys, I knew there was a relationship when I met the people that work with you, there's a relationship there when my wife walked in to get her scan and then come up with, like a treatment program. It wasn't just like, okay, column A. Here, go to this machine. We're going to tell you what to do. They were asking her questions. Go figure about like, hey, how often are you in the sun? Like, tell you moved from California. I think Vivian has so were you, like, a beach money? Were you out? And she's like, No, I hate the sun. And they're like, Okay, good. That's good. That's good for your skin, right? Um, so can you talk a little bit about, like, when somebody comes in, and this is probably a longer term process, right? You guys, you guys will do the quick one off thing. But I just from everything we've talked about, I know you care about the deeper, like molecular level of the skin. How do you build that relationship with the client when they come in?

Shannon  30:32  
You just have to be your authentic self first of all, and be kind. Understand these people are coming in to have a treatment done, they obviously have a concern, or they wouldn't be coming in. So we ask as many questions, plus, you know, put a little bit of personal touch on it, and let make them feel welcome and comfortable like this is where they want to be. This is it? This is what they've they found the place where they want to go to and get all of their concerns addressed and and then in the process, we might find out more things that they're really concerned about. So it's just building a relationship, literally, with everyone that you come in contact with. Because some people are easy. They know exactly what they want, and they're and that's what they expect. You got to be able to feel that. You got to read that on them. Some people don't know, and they expect you to be telling them what they need, and you got to be able to read that as well. And so I do the best that I can, and I train the girls the same to do the same thing, and we're all getting along really great, and we're all helping each other, and it's a big team. It's a great team.

Scott Groves  31:38  
What's been surprising to you about now moving in more to, like, the managerial side of things and managing a staff. Has there been anything eye opening about like, I mean, I know you're not the business owner, but he treats you like it. So has there been anything eye opening about starting the business, getting it off the ground, getting the supplies and all that stuff, like, anything business owners should be worried about.

Shannon  32:00  
Nothing to worry about. A lot of technical issues that you need to know about. So there's a lot of laws involved, and a lot of different aspects to that I learned doing this process that I didn't have experience in before, which I absolutely have all the experience now, from building from the ground up and getting the business going, and it's still it's ongoing. You're constantly learning, because the laws are constantly changing. So we are completely legit. We are always for doing everything at the legal level. So I'm constantly just watching and keeping on track with that, all the way from, you know, the way the rooms are supposed to be set up, what's allowed in them and what's not, the way the signs need to be posted, and the way that, you know, I never had to do business taxes before. And I think that was probably the one that really made me go, Oh, yes, business

Scott Groves  32:59  
taxes are important. Because Dr Larry, like your medical licenses on, on the paperwork here, right? Like this, is even this a real medical

Dr. Larry Cohen  33:08  
medicine director? Yes, yeah. I'm glad you mentioned it's a real medical office. And that's kind of like, you know, pervades the whole concept. What I wanted to I was trained in Minnesota, where the Mayo Clinic has been for well over 100 years, and has totally permeated the culture of Minnesota medicine. And I was really fortunate to get into an emergency medicine residency in Minnesota. And what you're taught there is that what you're supposed to do is what's best for the patient period. That's it. And so I want my clinic to be it's like, this is a medical clinic. We will do what's best for the patient. Yeah, there's some stuff that, you know, maybe medically is not necessary. In a sense, it's like, okay, you know, lashes, for example, aren't medically necessary. But if that's what the client wants to do, to look better, fine, we can do that. But, you know, the whole idea is, is that we are approaching skin from a medical perspective. What can we do to make people's skin healthier, younger, and therefore look more beautiful, radiant, glowing, etc. You'll get the looks by having the care of the patient's skin. For most in your mind,

Scott Groves  34:19  
yeah, you know, I think of how this is a product that, at face value, I would be like, Oh, your clientele must be 90, 95% women, right? And then it's like, oh, no, we work in a city where there is a lot of hard working blue collar men who are out in the sun, 10, 1214, hours a day. So can you talk a little bit about that? Like, maybe the guy right now is listening to the podcast with his wife, and he's, like, I don't really care about this. Like, I don't. I don't need to look beautiful for the wedding. I, like, would throw some gel in my hair and find but like, how important is skin care for that male or female who's working out in the sun all

Dr. Larry Cohen  34:53  
day? Well, I, I'd like to, like, backtrack, they know this is the center of hospitality. You know, we're also an entertainment center. Where men are in entertainment, you know, they want to look good because, you know, it's part of how they present themselves, right? You know. And then, you know, back to, you know, men who, you know, work outside. I'm going to have Shannon start working on my hands and forearms, because they've taken a lot of sun damage over the years from wearing T shirts, short sleeve shirts, etc. So that's something that you know, all men can can relate to. Because, okay, fine, our hands, our arms, our faces, have had a lot of sun exposure, and as a result, it's affected the age of the skin. So why not bring it back to a healthier stage of skin? Because who wants to have that paper skin when you're old? Yeah? Who wants to, like, bump into something and your skin peels? Nobody, well, start before it gets there, because once it gets there, then a lot we could do,

Scott Groves  35:52  
yeah, yeah. I've noticed that as I'm approaching 50 that there is a distinct difference between, like, I mean, we have a couple of guys that are jiu jitsu gym who in their 60s and 70s, they just haven't stopped moving right, right? They continue to take care of their body and do the physical things. And I remember when I was a kid, 70 was ancient, right? It was that frail skin where my grandfather would bump into something and he would get a cut, or, I remember he had to go to the hospital, and it was hard for them just to get an IV started, because the the elasticity, I guess, I don't know what the technical term is, the skin was real bad, and they're like, fishing around trying, I mean, it's, it's crazy, how early we have to start thinking about this stuff if we want to have a better quality of life when we get older, which, unfortunately, that happens to all of us.

Dr. Larry Cohen  36:36  
Well, you mentioned that you go to a jujitsu gym, and, you know, it's like, you know, people work out, and they take care of their muscles, and they want to look at that way. We're a gym for your skin. Oh, that's a, that's a good one. You have, you have, you have to stress your skin. You know, there are these things that we do in the clinic will stress your skin. They will cause your skin to build collagen and actually go back and, you know, I'll call it ready pegs, because anybody who's a doctor out there knows what I'm talking about. You lose this. You get an microscopically smoother skin as you get older. But if you look at skin under a microscope when you're young, it's got all these, like, little microscopic ridges. We can bring some of that back, you know, if we get started early enough on you, so you actually get a younger skin. You know, typically your collagen, that's a big word, what people eat, but you know, it's really what what's underneath your skin, and what your skin is made of. You peak at how much collagen you make when you're about 25 and as you get older, you make less and less and less collagen, and you lose the thickness of your skin, you lose the toughness of your skin, and you lose the elasticity of your skin. Why would you not want your skin to stay younger if you're spending all of your time worrying about what you eat, taking the medicines from the doctor, going to the gym, working out, taking care of your something simple as your hair, caring about how you look shaving, it's like, okay, well, how about taking care of your skin? It's the largest organ of your body, and it ages, and our lifestyle has caused us to age quite a bit. And so what we can do is we can stress your skin just like you stress yourself at the gym, and bring it back to something that's younger and healthier.

Scott Groves  38:20  
Talk about that, because that's something that I had heard when I was a child, and it was seared in my brain. But I think that's going to be surprising to people that, like, your skin is your the biggest organ in your body. That's correct. Can you explain that? Because, like, I think most people, if I give people a guess, to be like, Oh, your heart, your lungs, your brain, whatever. Like, thinking of the skin as an organ, I don't think that is naturally in people's mind, what

Dr. Larry Cohen  38:41  
part of your body isn't covered by skin? My eyeballs, that's a ethic, well said. And your and your teeth, okay, our teeth, okay, there we go, you know. So you know, even though we talk about the skin of your teeth, right? But we don't really have skin there. But in any case, you know, the idea is, is that, you know, it's a, it is the largest organ of your body, and what ages is, is basically what's exposed to the sun and the elements. You know, if you take a look like, say, for example, on the part of the skin that's underneath your bathing suit, it looks quite a bit different, yes, so, you know. And so you can kind of like, you know, do a simple test like that and say, hey, yeah, you know what, my skin is aging, and we can do something about that. We can bring it back. I'm not saying we can bring, you know, somebody who's 70 back to an age of 25 but we can certainly bring them back 10 years. I mean, take a look at the presidents and how much they age in eight years. Well, we can bring them back those eight years, yeah. I mean, very realistically, we can bring them back that far.

Scott Groves  39:44  
Shannon, talk to the person that's like, maybe a little bit scared about getting started, right? And they might be scared to get started because it's a financial consideration, or they might be scared to get started because, like, they don't want to know what they don't know. But like, the person that's like, yeah, you know, it's starting to look a. Little older, I did spend a lot of time out in the sun in my younger years. Like, what would you say to the guy or gal that's like, scared to come in and make the initial appointment?

Shannon  40:10  
Okay? Well, I just kind of want to touch on the men's services really quick before I get into that, because my biggest hurdle is I can get their skin healthier, but I cannot get them to wear the sunscreen. The sunscreen is where it's at, especially if they're golfers, pickleball players, tennis, whatever it is, this sun is going to get you out here so but when they come in and they have concerns like that, we do have things we can offer. We have payment plans. We can set them up on a year long treatment plan. If that's what they want, they want to get the results, get to the results. It could be six months to a year. We have payment plans for that where it's a lower cost, just monthly payment with no interest to them and or we can talk about, you know, starting with the smaller things and then building up into something. If they're a little bit scared of maybe lasers, or if they think it's going to be painful, we have comforting topical solutions we can put on them that so that they hardly feel the treatment at all. They might have a little heat later, but that's to be expected. And I warn them, I tell them exactly what's going to happen with every treatment. So with those type of people that are just kind of hesitant and don't know if they want to spend that kind of money on something like that, I start them out, you know, slow, and then, and then we just work it up, and I'm on the next visit, we talk a little bit more about what we're going to do next. Yeah, I wouldn't have thought about

Scott Groves  41:37  
that. That's a great point. The people that are the golfers, the pickleball players, you know, they're out in the sun four or five hours, not just men, women, too. Yeah. I mean, it's just, that's a that's a lot of sun exposure. So can you talk about before they even get into the clinic? Like, what are some preventative stuff you

Dr. Larry Cohen  41:54  
mentioned, sun care? Or I'd like to get back to something that you brought up, yeah, it's like, well, they don't know if they want to get started. How soon do you want to get started preventing arterial disease in your heart? Yeah, early. How soon do you want to get started controlling your blood pressure so you don't end up on dialysis? How early do you want to start controlling your blood pressure so you don't get a stroke or a heart attack, you know? So it's the same thing with your skin. We just haven't really thought about skin care as a health concern, and that's what we really offer, and that's what we try to put together. Is a way of putting something together where you can say, hey, this is good for your skin, you know, you go you work out, you do your aerobics. It's great for your heart. You know, you drop your cholesterol, you make your good cholesterol higher. You do all that stuff to take care of the inside of your body, but what are you doing to take care of your skin? We can do that between our services and our products. We can take care of your skin. So take care of the whole you, especially since it's the largest organ to your body, and it's what everybody sees. Nobody's gonna see how much heart disease you have until it's late, right? Yeah.

Shannon  43:09  
So going back to what I would recommend for people that don't know or realize if they at least, at the very minimum, have a good cleanser, have a good exfoliator, a good moisture and sunscreen always 30 or above, and we offer all of that at our clinic. We have some really good ones. We have tinted sunscreens for people that would like to it can actually replace makeup, or it's tinted enough for that, instead of taking all of that, those chemicals onto your face. So, yes, a cleanser, an exfoliator, a moisturizer and a sunscreen. Essential. Yeah, easy.

Dr. Larry Cohen  43:52  
That's what takes care of good maintenance, care of your skin, right? However, you know, what we can do also is improve the health of your skin. So, you know, it's a two step level. Let us help you improve the healthier skin. And then she can tell you, like, do these products and maintain the quality of the health of your skin. Don't have problems with your skin when you get out there. Don't reduce your chance of skin cancer. Reduce your chances of getting that thin, papery skin. And at the same time, it's really nice. You know, most people look at it as the primary effect, but we kind of look at it as the secondary effect. You're gonna look better. What's what looks better than young, healthy skin? Answer, nothing. Young, healthy skin is like critical to how how you look?

Scott Groves  44:38  
Yeah, taking care of my cholesterol is important. I'm on it. I go to the doctor Exactly. It's like, nobody can tell from the outside. Doesn't make you feel better, right? It's just a longer thing. I want to end with this. Thought we had talked a little bit when I first came in. It was like, Hey, you guys have this pretty aggressive roadmap of, like, we're starting with the skin rejuvenation and, like, helping people really get fundamentally younger. With their skin, and we want to make sure we have this whole suite of offerings to really take care of the whole person. So whatever you're comfortable talking about, can you tell me, like, as a business owner, kind of, what's on the roadmap for growth for the two of you, you already alluded to the IV care. Maybe you can talk quickly about what the IV care is, and then you can finish this up, Doctor on what the what the longer term is, go ahead

Shannon  45:23  
IV care. So with the IV, we have an excellent injector. She actually teaches at NEMA, which teaches other injectors. She's highly knowledgeable in the IV therapy. So we're going to be having IV for hydration, IV for hangovers.

Scott Groves  45:42  
Yeah. Hangovers, yeah. So if you were on the strip last night, like I was, and you you have to do a podcast today, maybe a quick IV for hangover would be great.

Shannon  45:50  
Yes, a couple. We're gonna have a few different combinations of different types of IV therapy. We're in the process of building that right now, so we're going to have some that actually improve your health, and a lot of them are hydration. We'll have some magnesium iron for the women that are iron deficient, which is going to work a lot better as the IV therapy. Rather than doing

Dr. Larry Cohen  46:16  
it in a instead of taking the pills every day and having cancer patient in abdominal pain, you can get an injection in your in an IV in a matter of minutes. That's equivalent to entire months worth of pills. Nice. And a lot of women who are perimenopausal are really, you know, they have irregular bleeding, things like that, and they're anemic, and I'm really tired. Well, we are going to be adding some labs, you know, we'll check your thyroid and the cholesterol and things like that. And I'm really hoping that my mentor in internal medicine comes down and works for us, because he's so good that he goes around and gives talks to cardiologists how to reduce heart disease. So he trained me. I haven't done it since I've been in the ER here, but we plan on picking up that, because that's like, really the wellness part. Yeah, we're looking at things like, you know NAD, you know NAD. NAD is niacin, am I? I can't remember the whole, yeah, right. Now, what does it do? I'm not from. It's actually, like, an anti aging kind of chemical that your body really needs, you know, another one is, and I recommend people get it as something like CoQ 10, especially if you take cholesterol medications, you know. So we're going to look at some stuff like that, you know, in the in the wellness part, you know, things that do, things to present, heart attack, stroke, keep your kidneys alive and healthy. We actually, you know, can already prescribe for weight loss. You know, the GOP ones are terrific. Nothing's come along like that, and that's been shown not only to help you lose weight, which everybody wants to lose some weight, but what it does is it's shown to preserve renal function and improve heart health and all these other things. Because, either indirectly, because you've lost weight, or possibly even directly. So we're kind of going to be looking at all these medical advances that are really anti aging.

Scott Groves  48:10  
So I feel like within the next couple months here, I'll just be able to come in for like, a full Scott groves oil, check, clean, clean everything up, get all the systems functioning, whether it, whether it's IV skin cholesterol testing, right?

Dr. Larry Cohen  48:22  
I guess, I guess the term is like, either preventive medicine or integrative medicine. So that, you know, the skincare is something that we offer that's really, I think, the highest level in the valley of advanced Esthetic Skin Care. But we also want to say, Hey, we got we're wellness, and I'm a doctor, and we're licensed as a medical clinic, so we can do some of that, and we're planning on doing some of that. And as far as dermatology, one of our nurses just finished her NP, and she's specializing in dermatology, so we are going to be able to either do it or we'll find somebody to refer to if it's something that's a little bit beyond our capacity right now, I would like to talk about, you know, who we have, you know, she mentioned one of our nurse injectors is an instructor in it. You know, we've got another nurse injector who's been doing this for years. We've got an Aesthetician who's coming over from a dermatology clinic. One of our aestheticians was originally trained by Zane Obagi. So Zain Obagi is a dermatologist who actually is really the founder of the corrective and rejuvenating skin care. So she was originally trained by him, and as a matter of fact, we're one of the certified providers of Zain Obagi skin health products at Zio skin health. I mean, that's like one of our top, probably our top product right now, because it's like first grade, medical grade, designed by a dermatologist to really help skincare. She was trained by him. I mean, I've got top people. She worked in a dermatology clinic for years. Are taking care of cancer patients and helping them look better. So it's like, whatever your skin concern is, we're really going to try to either take care of you, or if it's something beyond our capacity, like maybe you do have some advanced skin cancer, we're going to refer you at this point, although at some point we may take care of that ourselves too.

Scott Groves  50:17  
That's awesome. Well, I can tell you from being there. Congratulations on the facility, congratulations on the business, congratulations on the staff, like you guys are doing so many things great, and that's why I wanted to talk to you to help get the word out there. So we'll link to all the information. Last thought on what the business is doing and why you're here to serve serve the community.

Dr. Larry Cohen  50:38  
Well, I think what we want to do is, is, like we talked about what we do that's unique and that we really offer, you know, the state of the art skincare right now. But in one of the things we want to do is offer the best possible experience for the patients you know, you know, like we are in the capital of the hospitality industry for the whole world. This is Las Vegas, Nevada, and you can go to some of the, like, the finest places in the world in terms of getting, you know, getting good service. So one of the things we want to do is, like, we don't want to go to a doctor's office and somebody goes, yeah, what can I do? How can I help you? We want everything from the moment you walk in that door to the moment you walk out the door. We want you to be treated with, you know, respect and have great service, luxury service. Luxury Resort kind of of looks like even the bathroom. Like you mentioned, the bathrooms, it's such a silly thing when it matters so much. Well, the bathroom in the place, I won't say the rest of the place, but the bathroom in the place was pretty decent. And, you know, it cost us a lot of money to redo the bathroom, but, you know, you could, I could take my wife out to like, you know, some of the best places. And if she walks to the bathroom, and it isn't like she's never going back, yeah, say, but, but it's like, you know, I want people to walk into so that we really thought about every conceivable detail to make you feel comfortable, welcome, and that we really are concerned with excellence in your care everything.

Shannon  52:09  
Not only do we have the best equipment for the skin care, I just want everyone to know that we want them to have the best experience that they're going to have going in to get their skin cared for and healthier. It's awesome.

Dr. Larry Cohen  52:24  
Well, thanks for coming in. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Scott Groves  52:28  
Hey, it's Scott groves with the Henderson HQ podcast. I hope you got something out of that episode. If you enjoyed it, please don't forget to like, comment and subscribe to the podcast. It really helps the show grow. And by the way, if you are a business owner, or you know a business owner who has an interesting product, service or just an interesting backstory, please, please get in touch with us. Email us at the Henderson hq@gmail.com, we would love to interview you, because that's what this show is all about. It's about building community, supporting local, individually owned businesses, and just making Henderson a great place to live. And don't forget, go to Henderson hq.com and make sure you sign up for our newsletter. We send out a once a week newsletter, no spam, about the most interesting local businesses, hot spots, restaurants, community events. Thanks for watching the show. Really appreciate you. You.